An Englishman in Copenhagen writing about digital, music and anything else.

My darling wife got me a RaspberryPi for Christmas, probably because I couldn't stop going on about it.Here's one:

The first reaction from most people since has been "What does it do?" to which I have struggled to give an answer to...as it can do so much!

First off, its a hands-on mini computer that can always be on due to low power usage (5V). This means possibilities such as a webserver for either web or your LAN.

Second, its educational. It comes with basic Debian linux installed, so its a good way to brush up on those skills which I have found I needed more of recently, especially as Google Cloud Compute also runs off Debian. It also comes installed with Python and Mathematica (its only a question of time before I put R on there too)

Third it has ok graphics for its size so could function as a media server, serving up films and music.

Forth it has many sensors you can attach to it, such as IR sensors, Bluetooth iBeacons, cameras or voice activated systems. I was thinking some kind of voice activated gadget system, accessible via a web interface, or hooking it up to TechnicLego and making it part of a robot brain :)

The units cost about £40 each with accessories, which means with some skills you can replicate more expensive gadgets and have fun trying, and many people once they find a fixed function buy another one to look for more uses. Since I got it I have also bought a 7 Port USB Powered Hub, as the RaspberryPi can't power things such as external hard-drives on its own.

So far I have put the RaspberryPi next to our Wifi Router so that I can now:

Connect from the web through our building Firewall via reverse SSH tunnelling, by connecting to a Free Tier Amazon linux box and forwarding ports via the always on connection (nefarious applications talked about here)

Setup remote desktop and SSH so I can control the RaspberryPi from my MacBook Air.

Started up an internal LAN homepage, for use in our flat. I'm hoping my talented web designer wife can make us a web-portal gateway for useful things we may need such as calendars.

Hooked up an external hard drive to create a cheap alternative to Apple's TimeMachine for our MacBooks

Mounted a 32GB USB stick to experiment with network storage using Samba.

All of which I'd have had no clue about unless I had got the gadget, so this is all WIN for me at the moment :)

Once these basics are done, I'll consider these next projects:

The aforementioned brain for a LegoRobot

A timelapse webcam

A home greeting system - wave your phone at a sensor, a screen lights up with a personalised homepage

Mark Edmondson

Views on this blog are entirely my own and do not reflect my employers. Content may also be unbelievably true, or exaggerated falsehoods. Its written for friends, so if I don't know you please act as a potential friend :) Any trolling or spamming will be punishable by death.
Contact: mark [at] markedmondson.me